On Friday at six-thirty, Lorelai pulled up in front of Annie's house. Annie and her brother were out in the front yard, and Annie was wearing a skirt. "That's Annie?" Lorelai asked.
"Yep," Rory said happily. "Hi, Annie!"
"Hi, Rory!" Annie greeted her friend gleefully. "Rory, this is my brother, James."
The solemn nine-year-old regarded Rory. "Take good care of my Annie, okay?"
"Okay," Rory agreed.
"Mom, Rory's here!" Annie called into the house, turning her chair around towards the front door.
A tall, brown-haired woman came out of the house, smiling. "Lorelai, hi! Isn't this such a coincidence that our daughters are friends?"
"Sure is," Lorelai agreed. "Rory, this is Maire Ecclesall."
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Ecclesall," Rory said.
"I've heard all about how you rescued my daughter," Maire said. "Thank you, Rory."
"Oh, you're welcome," Rory said, a little embarrassed by such praise.
"Mom, we have to go," Annie said quickly, trying to head off more embarrassing conversation.
"Right," Maire said, coming back to reality. She helped Annie get into the car, and folded up Annie's wheelchair and put it in the back. "See you later!"
"Bye, Annie!" James called.
"Bye,
James!" Annie responded. "He's a sweet kid."
Lorelai nodded. "Very
protective."
"Yeah," Annie agreed.
All too soon it seemed to Rory, the car pulled up at the Hartford residence of Emily and Richard Gilmore. Annie sat shell-shocked in the back. "This is their house? It looks like a museum!"
Rory chuckled. "Sometimes, it does."
Emily Gilmore met them at the door – Annie, Rory, and Lorelai. "You've brought a friend," she said. There was something odd in her voice. Rory wasn't sure what.
"Grandma, this is Annie Ecclesall, a friend from Chilton."
"Chilton?" Emily was staring at Annie; her mind was elsewhere.
"You know, that school where Rory goes," Lorelai helped.
Emily was so caught up that she barely noticed the joke. "Yes, well, uh, come in. Can I take your coats?"
When the coats were hung up, Emily ushered them all into the living room, where Richard was. "Richard, this is Rory's friend Annie."
"Annie what?" Richard asked, looking up from the paper. When he saw the petite girl in the wheelchair, he smiled and said, "Well, you're very pretty, Annie. Although I must say, I was expecting a rather larger person from the way Rory described you, standing up to those bullies."
Annie smiled at the praise. "I'm Annie Ecclesall, sir. Thank you for the compliment."
"Well, what would you ladies like to drink?" Emily asked.
"Uh, cranberry juice," Rory answered.
"Cranberry juice," Annie agreed. "That sounds, um, interesting."
"Ecclesall, did you say?" Richard asked, setting the papers down. "Are you a relation to Anders Ecclesall?"
"He's my great-uncle, sir," Annie answered as Emily went off to get cranberry juice.
Richard nodded. "He is a wonderful man, and an excellent stock-broker."
"Uncle Anders was in a car crash a couple years ago, Mr. Gilmore," Annie said. "He broke his back and is paralyzed. But he still trades stocks like an old pro."
"Good to hear!" Richard exclaimed. "You shouldn't let anything stop you."
"No, sir," Annie agreed.
"Lorelai, could I speak with you a moment?" Emily called from the kitchen.
"Sure thing, Mom," Lorelai agreed, getting up and leaving the girls and Richard to talk.
"What in heaven's name are you doing, Lorelai? Allowing your daughter to befriend that… that…"
"What word are you looking for, Mom? Cripple? I think they banned that in the 1940's."
Emily's face flushed red, that was the word she was looking for.
"Annie is a lovely girl, Mom. She's smart, and funny, and she has a brother who would do anything for her. Her parents are giving and good members of the community. Her mother works at the Inn with me as a cook. They are excellent people." Lorelai took the tray of drinks from her mother. "Just because Annie can't use her legs doesn't mean anything. In fact, I've heard Rory say that because she can't use her legs, her mind works just as well."
Emily stood there, shocked.
Lorelai smiled to herself and resolved to tell the girls about it.
Annie was quiet on the way home. "You didn't hear any of that conversation, did you?" Lorelai asked.
"You mean the fight between you and your mom? Yeah."
"How much?" Rory asked, for she too had heard it.
"Enough." Annie shrugged. "It means nothing. I have to get used to it. People do it all the time."
"But that doesn't make it right," Rory said.
"No. It doesn't."
Tristan redeemed himself the following week. Rory was coming up the hall from the library when she saw a cluster of students gathered around something. Leading them, of course, was Gabriel.
"Oh, no," Rory said softly.
Annie was sitting on the floor, her unbending legs stretched in front of her, vainly trying to get back into her wheelchair. She had told Rory that her arms were not strong enough to pull her back in. "Annie," Rory started to say.
The bell rang then.
"Bye, cripple," Gabriel called, and he and his friends went off down the hall.
Annie's eyes filled with tears.
"Gabriel, stop right there," a voice rang out in the corridor.
Tristan Dugray.
"Let me help you," Tristan said to Annie. He carefully lifted her back into her wheelchair.
"T-thank you," Annie said softly, her voice quavering.
"Gabriel, don't bother Annie anymore," Tristan ordered. "Because I'm sure that Mr. Abraham in the guidance would be happy to have a talk with you if you did."
Gabriel scowled at Tristan, and ran off down the hall.
"Is that better?" Tristan asked Annie.
"Yes," she said, and her face lit with a small smile. "Thank you."
"My pleasure," he said, and sauntered off.
Rory was shocked. I will faint, she thought. That didn't happen.